Thursday, May 15, 2008

Look for the rainbow in every storm.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this postwhich is out of the blue and spur of the moment and a slew of other idioms meaning spontaneousbut I'm thinking my tenure here at Copy, Right? is at an end.

I feel I've had a good run. I've been doing this more than four years now. I am stunned and flattered at the positive attention I've received and similarly shocked at how little of the attention has been negative. I feel very appreciative of every reader who has encouraged me via comments, donations and publicity in the past. You've all been wonderful.

I suppose there is a good chance that I might get antsy and wish to start blogging about music (or something else) again, and should that happen, I will definitely update this site with information.

Again, I have very much enjoyed doing what I do here and appreciate you all very much. In my absence, I highly recommend you check out the blogs, cover-focused and otherwise, listed to the right.

Thank you all so much for your attention these past few years. It's been very fulfilling for me, and I hope you feel the same.

So I've been a fringe dweller at this site for a while and I have to say I've loved it. I'm addicted to cover songs and you were one of the best blogs out there. I appreciate though that all good things must come to an end (and all cliches must be oft quoted) so just wanted to say thanks for opening my ears to some great and obscure covers. Hope you find whatever it is you're looking for in life. And have fun while you're doing it. Bye.

Liza: It would be a great loss to have you stop this blog, but I quite understand your position. I hope you find profit & pleasure in whatever endeavors you turn to. Thanks for so many great tunes and so much fun & interesting news and commentary. -- Greg

Thanks so much, Liza. I've been visiting for perhaps three of those four years, as yours was one of the first music blogs I bookmarked and followed. I'm just reflecting on how many things you've brought into my consciousness.Good health and ambition be yours.Andrew,Canada.

Thanks Liza - as many have already said - i've discovered some fantastic music and new bands through you. Being honest i've never commented or donated either - i've just lapped up the cream you've kindly delivered - so I can't complain when you decide enough is enough.

Needless to say you will be greatly missed. You were one of the first music blogs I regularly read and you helped kickstart a revolution of cover enthusiasts-- just look at that cover blogroll. All of those cover blogs (including my own) are indebted to you for showing us how it's done. In fact, you are the original and we're just the covers. Best wishes in whatever you do. So long and thanks for all the shirts (honestly I hadn't heard of Threadless before you either).

You were the first other person I ever discovered with a love of covers for the sake of what they are; I've found so many amazing things through your blog, and like everyone else, just wanted to say thank you and that you'll be much missed from the world of covers. All the best.

When I first started blogging, you had just started, and I found your site an inspiration. You will be missed. If you ever want to poke your head up for a post or two, feel free to come on by http://www.berkeleyplace.wordpress.com

I do have to say that I wish you would reconsider. One Copy, Right? post a month or two months or twice a year is still more awesome than an entire year's worth of posts elsewhere.

I also must beg of you to not do the mass delete thing. It'll be nice to go through the list in the future and find some old gems that were long forgotten.

Of course, it's all up to you, just giving a little voice to the "please don't do it!" side =)

Best of luck to you in life and your endeavors. I know you've had it rough for awhile and I'm hoping that by losing the blog, you're gaining the stability and success in the "real world" that you so rightly deserve.

Thanks for opening my eyes and ears to many many (many, MANY) cover songs and bands that I would have never known about otherwise. I can honestly say that you've affected my life in a way that some people I know and trust outside of cyberspace have never done.

Oh, say it aint so! I love this blog and I have found so many great bands through your posts. I have been a quit follower for almost 3 years, and I hope to see you posting again in the future. Thank you for creating such a great cover blog.

So sorry to see you go, but add one more positive comment to the already long list of well-wishers!

I hope you come back to blogging someday and you will be sorely missed, but know that you've made the blogosphere a lot nicer place with your efforts and your pioneering work has been much appreciated these many years!

Enjoy your time away and I hope you get more time to listen to more great music! Again, a big thanks for all the musical pleasure! :)))

Liza, I hope you'll reconsider, but even if not, I have enjoyed your tenure, and been exposed to some truly insane shit via your largesse. I look forward to whatever you decide to share with us in the future.

Moof- First, I'm not saying "feh," in the least. This was an extremely difficult decision for me to make and it is based on things other than a fleeting "I just feel like it" moment. I am a real person with a real life outside of blogging and, unfortunately, being an MP3 blogger, while giving me an appropriate amount of indie or Internet cred, is not always considered a plus to the world outside of such things. I've long been conflicted about the ethical issues, and using rapidshare wouldn't erase said feelings. Besides which, I loathe rapidshare sites.

And lest you believe I'd "destroy for eternity" my writings, be assured that I'm computer savvy enough to know how to save my writings before removing them from the Internet.

I appreciate that you are a fan and am flattered that you do not wish to see me go, but I really could do without the assumptions and backhanded compliments.

Just wanted to say that I was always amazed at the variety (and obscurity, ha!) of your cover-discoveries; usually kicking myself for not checking in often enough-- thus missing out on cool music. Thank you!

It was great to read your posts, dig the sounds, and I sincerely thank you for all the time and energy you've put forth here!I just wanted to put my voice in the chorus of well-wishes, and hope you will look back at this blog fondly.We all (those folks that posted ahead of me, and the ones that will post behind me) have been "Touched By Your Presence, Dear".

Thanks so much for all the great posting! You've turned me on to a number of great bands, and hundreds of fantastic covers.

Four years is a good run for any blog, especially one that's been able to do such a great job and reach such a wide audience. Congratulations on what you have done, and good luck with whatever comes next.

Theres nothing I can say that hasnt been said better by someone else, but your blog has been absolutely brilliant, every update brightened up my day, and I'll miss it sorely. Best of luck in the real world and thank you so much for getting me into so many different new bands and songs. Ben (Canterbury, UK)

What a sad, sad day. But, we at The Waiting Room thoroughly understand. It's why we ourselves never got into blogging our love for music (covers & in general) & instead stuck to a (not exactly less time consuming - well, actually, a far more time consuming, but you know what we mean) Radio Show.

Our very own Drunk Covers series has been heavily indebited to you in the past for throwing up such diverse & wonderful covers we'd simply not heard of or had the time to track down ourselves. We will be an emptier vessel with your parting.

That said, here's an open invitation for you to put together your very own Drunk Covers show whenever you have the time, because we think your dedication deserves recognition & applause. As for the logistics of such a thing (you being there in the USof & we being here in the UKof), we can always Skype & record.

If you're ever game, get in touch whenever you feel like it. It would be a pleasure & an honour.

It only remains for us to wish you a hearty All the very best of whatever it is that's needed to get you to where it is you end up being

p.s. have you thought about perhaps lettig someone else take over the running of this? Giving them full access, allowing them to pump their hard earned into the financial side, with the proviso that whenever you feel like doing a blog post you get to do it without question? Or something like that?

Could be a way forward? The name alone (Copy, Right?) should at last be preserved for being genius.

Oh...I'm sorry that you're letting C,R? go, but at the same time, I've seen your unhappy posts. If posting here doesn't make you happy anymore, then good for you for knowing that you need to move on. Do let us know if you reestablish yourself on the blog circuit--a lot of us would follow you. Thanks for all the covers. I've been introduced to a lot of awesome stuff, thanks to you.

Best of everything, whatever you decide. And know that you've tickled the imagination and stoked the appreciation of music lovers around the globe. It takes a lot of love to do what you do. I hope as much love comes back to you when you need it.

It's a sad day. I've been a fan of your site for years now, nicking lots of material for my radio show and urging people to check out the site. I hope this now frees you up to find more happiness and if the karma laws were enforced you're due for lots of it. And if you ever do get the urge again you're always welcome on my browser.

I'm quite sad to see you leaving, but I know all too well the reasons why you need to do so. I've been interested in cover songs for a long time, but you really fed that interest and turned it into a real passion; thank you for some of the truly interesting finds you've turned me on to. As for the commentors who are being rude and crass, it goes to show just how little they appreciate you to begin with. All the best!

Liza, you rock, and always have. I keep very few links on my blog, and one of them has always been here to you at Copy, Right? In fact, my blog's two year anniversary is coming up, and from the very first day, I linked to you! You've introduced me to countless artists and songs I came to love and would never have known about otherwise.

I only discovered Lobstar's magnificent work last fall, so I have not been around for the whole ride, but what I have seen has been extraordinary. For anyone who loves off-off-mainstream music with a chewy pop-center, this blog has been indispensable. My great thanks to you for all your work. Whatever else you do in life, if I hear about it, you can count on me to be out there cheering you on.

By the way, about your "edited to add" post - I grieve to find myself not at all astonished as to how may bloated and inflamed a-words there are out there -- and greedy to boot, what would this country be without that? They're not representative of all of us, I promise. Be well and happy.

I've really enjoyed your blog, and hope that you have, as well. Thanks for introducing me to so much wonderful music that I would never have known existed if not for you! Best of luck in your new endeavors! Cheers, Sus

This was a really entertaining blog and I will miss it. I always looked forward to your posts because there was no telling what you would think of next. hearing so many (often radically) different takes on familiar tunes opened my ears & my mind about how a song can soundas the P5 said goodbye baby, amenand thanks for the memoriesChris

thanks for all the tunes. by coincidence last saturday some dj was only playing cover versions at the bar i was at, and i sure scared the friend i was with, by basically recognizing nearly all of them after about 3 or 4 seconds into the song.

I dj an all cover song night in NYC, where I get bands to play, and the bands have to perform at least half cover songs. I started it before I found your site, but you have been a wonderful inspiration and super helpful. I so wish you could have enjoyed some of the very cool covers the bands have performed at my night, from the very first band playing an accoustic punk cover of girls and boys to the Bowery Boys doing an Iggy Pop tribute with East Village punk legend David Peel. Every time I do the night I think of you. I am finally working on getting a video camera so I can document some of these cool sets. Thank you for all your hard work and if you are ever in NYC, my night happens every other week and I have the info up on copycatnyc.com or at myspace.com/copycatnycThank you!Evanaka dj Xerox

Hey Liza !!!! Best of luck with whatever,wherever you decide to do or be !! Thank you so much for all the great words and sounds!! I will miss Copy,Right.Be peaceful,happy and good to yourself!! PEACE PEACE..Phlixx

I've never left you a comment but have been reading your blog for years and enjoyed it every time. I wish you would reconsider your decision and not abbandon the blog definitely... maybe a post every month, or every couple of months. I'm sure 99% of your readers will stay faithful even with a few posts a year. All I'm saying is leave the door open, give us some hope.

I've only been coming to this site for a short while, but it's been a pleasure. All good things, etc. Hope everything works out for you and who knows? Maybe you'll be downloading stuff from MY blog one day!Now, first I just need to get one.

Sorry to see you go Liza. Like everybody else has said, this blog was one of the greats and a big inspiration to me. All the best and be happy (as you undoubtedly are) that you have definitely made your mark.

I will miss your wit and your rare ability to find crazy and enjoyable music. Four years seems like a long, long time here, doesn't it? You deserve to be a success in your actual life, so don't worry too much, if you can help it, about putting this aside. Sounds like a healthy decision. I wish you all the best... - Jeremy (Fingertips)

Thank you so much for all the wonderful music. I'll love you forever especially for that cover of "He's A Rebel" by the Zippers and "Where the Boys Are" by the Czars (what a voice!). I wish you were staying, but you should only do this stuff as long as it's fun for you... it's just a chore when it's not. I hope you do come back, though. Thank you so much.

LizThanks for everything. I've appreciated your taste in selection and quality in presentation. Please don't mass delete, at least for a few months...I've got several music blogs in my favorites that are no longer active, that I've added "Defunct" as the first word in their title, and yet I still return to them to pick up the name of a band or a song, to check their archives, or to sample their links. Yours is a site I know I would keep for visits, even if its no longer 'active'.Best wishes that the troubles in your life smooth out soon. If you ever want to be a 'member' of a group blog, let us know. If you ever want to publish your knowledge and aesthetics without active links to the music referenced, I'd read that too...I can always search for other sites that offer the songs to which you refer. In other words, I'll do half the work to appreciate your knowledge!.Thanks again.

YOu're a cheap lazy quitter - and by that, I mean you've run an awesome blog for a long time and brought a ton of fun and weird music to a lot of people who greatly appreciated it. I'm sad to see you ending the blog, but I'd rather you stop when you want than feel obligated to continue.

Thank you for your work. I think it's hard to keep a blog alive more than a few month, and you're right, "real life" is more important than the internet world. Good chance in your life, thank you, and a lot of kisses.

I'll be honest, it's been a long time since I last visited your site, but for a couple of years it was one that I checked with regularity - don't really know why I stopped. Really a shame to see you're finishing up but it's understandable. I'm surprised you've managed to keep it going this long (where you found the tracks to keep it going one can only guess).

Big thumbs up to you though for sticking it out for as long as you have.

Hope things pick up for you and you now have a bit of extra cash to enjoy.

I understand. It's cool.Always know that you changed my life. You changed the way that I look at music and even the way I write it.I became obsessed for a while so you must have gone through an entire rainbow of experiences.

the fact that I haven't commented before today shows that I didn't visit your site as regularly as I should have done. But apparently I had a look today, which shows that I thought it's still worth checking out after all these years. Your blog was one of the very first I visited on a frequent basis and also one of those who inspired me to create one of my own.

Very sorry that you decided to quit it and hopefully you will change your mind one of these days.

I still come here first before going to the various links on the side. Habit I suppose. Thanks again for all your efforts. I enjoyed reading your little comments that went along with your varied posts.

I still laugh when I think about you crooning Drive by The Cars as a kid.

Liza - Copy, Right? was the first music blog that I ever paid any attention to. It seems like so long ago. I guess I found you just after you started. I put you in favorites immeditely... before I had any music blog sites in favorites. I discovered Flickr by your example. I found so may wonderful songs from your posts, and your links and information. I've made mix CDs that included songs you posted. I loved reading your posts. Whether it was funny or you were upset or down or informational... it was always interesting.

I would come back to this site every week. Sometimes, you know, life has a way of pulling you this way and that... I would realize it was a month! Oh my! Almost happy that I got too busy with life, and I let your posts add up, almost happy suddenly realizing that I had a bunch of episodes to read and listen to. I could sit back and slowly enjoy a backlog of Liza and the sometimes wonderful, sometimes skipworthy, but always always interesting music you have found for us. What a wonderful host you were for these years. We appreciate the work you put into you it. Well, I know I do.

Good luck in whatever you are doing. When is the Copy, Right? Movie coming out? Are you writing a book about this experience? When is your TV show airing? We look forward to your next project, whatever it is.

how i miss this blog ... it was one of the very few i visited w/o fail. not only great cover songs, lots of nice memories of bloomington and a lot of my old haunts. i hope you will consider returning to blogging, if not to post more exceptional covers, to write about, well, whatever.

Blog Roll

Other Links

Disclaimers/Reminders:

1. MP3s on this blog are available for a short time and are here for sampling purposes only. My only goal is to share my love/hate relationship with cover songs and to turn readers on to artists of whom they might not have otherwise been aware. If you are the creator or copyright owner of a song or anything else that might be posted here, please CONTACT ME by sending an e-mail (see above) if you wish to have it removed.

2. PLEASE don't direct link to any individual tracks. If you like an artist you hear here (either the original artist or the one performing the cover), you should definitely do your best to take the knowledge you gain here and go out and BUY THEIR ALBUMS.

3. I very rarely, if ever, repost songs. If you missed something, I apologize, but I get lots of e-mails from people asking me to repost things. If I actually reposted all the tracks people wanted me to, I'd never get a chance to post anything new. That said, if there is A TRACK OR TWO you feel you desperately need, feel free to drop me a line at liza.copyright @ gmail.com (sans spaces) and I'll do my best to get it to you. But please keep in mind that it might not be instantaneous, as I get approximately 600 e-mails a week.

4. If you read my updates via an RSS feed aggregator or via a LiveJournal feed, there will be times when old posts will suddenly appear with non-working links, which happens as a result of my going back to an older entry to remove the links or to update or edit the post in any way. Again, I apologize if you missed these posts initially, but I cannot repost the songs. Lately I've been keeping songs up for two weeks to a month and I feel that should be plenty of time for you to get the songs. If you don't read your feeds often and regularly miss tracks, I suggest you bookmark the site and check it once a week or so.

5. I do not generally take requests nor do I guarantee that songs submitted to me will appear here. You're welcome to send me a track or two, but it might not hit the blog. Also, I get LOTS of e-mail so submissions sent via sites like YouSendIt or Dropload.com often expire by the time I get to them. Please attach your files to the actual e-mail if you want to ensure I get it. Similarly, I'd really appreciate it if those of you sending MP3s to my inbox would check to see whether or not I've already posted the tracks first. There is a search bar in the upper left corner of the site that should assist you in said endeavor. Granted, chances are good that even if I've not posted it, I already have it, but at least there's a chance I don't.

6. If you're looking for a few suggestions on beginning your own cover hunts, here is an old entry that might prove helpful.

7. If you are a member or agent of a band, please keep in mind that I ONLY POST COVER SONGS. Similarly, I do not "review" albums. I will most likely delete and ignore any communication from you that shows you do not understand this.